(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to communications systems and in particular to wireless communications systems having existing protocols.
(2) Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98
In the communications industry, and in particular the wireless communication industry, various protocols such as IEEE 802.11, 802.11a and 802.11b exist to enable products from various manufacturers to be use and share communication channels and to communicate with each other.
Because such a broad range of vendors uses these standards, they are often very general and lacking in features and functionality. A vendor who desires to add certain functions to a wireless apparatus, such as QoS, improved synchronization, more advanced forward error correction, or other physical layer and MAC layer enhancements runs the risk of becoming incompatible with the standard and thus excluded from the market. Therefore, a need exists for a method that enables physical layer and MAC layer enhancements while at the same time allowing complete backward compatibility with existing protocols.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.